Bookshelf Before & After
I got a bookshelf from our local Buy Nothing group and the plan was to use it, as is, as a Lego display for the boys’ growing collection. Every windowsill and ledge in the house was lined with Lego creations and we thought maybe we needed a command central. A space to display all the creativity! The hard work! The joy of all things Lego!
Or just a spot to corral all the crap.
Either way you looked at it, things were going to get tidied up. And Jason and I would stop stepping on teeny tiny Lego metal detectors (for real, we’ve got TWO of those) when we stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
This is what it looked like when I brought it home…
A little rough around the edges. Some discoloring there on the bottom right. Some places with a little… mold? Mildew? Eh, it’ll work. I stuck it in a corner, plunked the mining station and the boat transporter on top and said, “Have at it!”
At first the boys were excited. We loaded up all their creations, put the Lego bin next to it and declared it the Lego station. But then an interesting thing happened. They stopped playing with their Legos!
At first I didn’t notice. Then I thought maybe they were just busy with other things and they’d come back around to them in due time. Finally I asked them why they were neglecting the Lego station. What’s the deal? Look at the orderly display! Look at the tidy area for controlled playing! Turns out it wasn’t actually conducive to playing with the Legos. It was good for displaying them but not so helpful for actually playing.
Ah well. I tried. Time to put it back up on Buy Nothing, I guess.
But after procrastinating for a few days, I realized that it might be a great piece to revamp. It cost me nothing and it was already on it’s last legs so why not try refinishing it? I have a secretary desk that I found via Nextdoor – also for free and I want to refinish it but I am nervous to get started because I’d never refinished anything before and I don’t want to mess it up. The failed Lego bookshelf seemed like the perfect thing to practice on.
Here’s how it turned out…
I borrowed an electric sander from some friends and lightly sanded it. Then I primed it and gave it two coats of paint, followed by a coat of sealant.
Then I had to do some calculating for the wood pieces that I attached to the back. I bought some wood strip things (I have no idea what they are called — I just walked around Home Depot until I found some that were the depth/size I wanted. I bought 5 for $5/each. Then I cut them to size with a hand saw and mitre box.
Once I had all the wood pieces cut for the back, I rubbed them down with brie wax, waited for them to dry and then nailed them to the back.
The plan was to refinish the piece and then put it up on Buy Nothing but of course I’m not quite ready to part with it after putting in so much work. So for now it is downstairs where I can see it and give it a loving pat on my way to the laundry room. I’m sure I’ll part with it at some point soon but maybe, just maybe, before that happens the boys will see it and think, “hey! That is such a cool weird bookshelf thing, maybe we should put our Legos on it!”